Founder Of Cape Cod Potato Chips Brand Dies

BARNSTABLE, Mass. (AP) — Stephen Bernard, founder of the Cape Cod Potato Chips company and two other snack food brands, has died.

Bernard died Saturday at Cape Cod Hospital after a battle with pancreatic cancer, said his daughter, Nicole Dawes. He was 61.

Bernard and his wife, Lynn, founded Cape Cod Potato Chips in 1980 as an offshoot of their health food store despite having almost no knowledge of the snack food industry. After a shaky start, the kettle-cooked chips took off and eventually got national distribution.

Dawes said her father was humble, yet fearless.

"He literally did not possess the ability to give up," she said. "He knew less than nothing about making potato chips when he started, but he read an article about making chips the old-fashioned natural way and said 'I can do that.'"

Jim McCarthy, president of the Arlington, Va.-based Snack Food Association, credited Bernard with helping bring back the traditional kettle-style chip, which he described as a crispier and thicker cut potato chip dating back to the product's origins 150 years ago.